Mind Forged: Book One of the Enchanters of Xarparion (7 page)

“
That’s enough, Naton! You’ve had your fun, now leave before you really get hurt!” The voice came from a shorter, genial looking student a little older than I was who had approached silently from the rear of the hall. He had a strong earthy presence and I could tell he was a good guy just by looking at him. He was a leader and behind him were five other earth wizards and they all looked ready to fight.

“
Stay out of this Hons; this is not your fight!”

“
You made this my fight when you threatened Julia with your fire magic. And from what I hear, this enchanter stepped up and protected her. So from the way I see it, you mess with him, you mess with us!” Hons and the other earth wizards readied their own spells, lifting large chucks of stone from the floor.

Naton growled
, “Damn, that fireball was only strong enough to maybe give her sunburn, or maybe burn some of that curly rat’s nest she calls hair!”

“
Your last tantrum like this ended with a wind wizard at the healers for over a week, now leave!”

“
Fine, I’ll go, but don’t think that we’re done yet, Enchanter! You better watch your back!” He stormed off with his buddies to the other side of the dining hall, well away from us. Hons sighed and then offered his hand. “My name’s Hons.”

“
Alex.”

“
Good to meet you, Alex. And thank you for helping Julia for us. That jerk will bully anyone who is smaller than him.” I looked over to Julia. One of the other Earth Tower girls was hugging her, while she was sniffling on her shoulder. Hon’s sighed “That’s Lin, she and Julia have gotten close, being the two newest to the tower and all. Lin tells me she cries a lot in her sleep. I take it you knew her before she came to the school, do you know why?”

I felt all my accumulated anger at Naton drain off and I looked down at my feet, not entirely sure if it was my story to tell
. “Hons, she had a really hard time before she got here. Her parents were killed when she was little and she had no one so she ended up at an orphanage, a pretty bad one at that. This place is the first good thing that has happened to her. She may be afraid that this is all a dream and she’s going to wake up.”

“
I wish she would have told us that; but now, maybe we can help her heal. Has she told you that she’s working to become a druid?”

“
Yes - she’s so excited to have finally found friends and a niche in life.”

He nodded warmly
. “We’ll do everything in our power to help her along; Druids are especially precious to our discipline. We sometimes go years at a stretch without having even one qualify. This year we are fortunate to have two, Lin and Julia.” He looked around as if gauging the time from the level of activity in the dining hall. “Alex, it was good to meet you. I think you are one of the good guys. But you better get a move on if you’re going to make it to class on time. And don’t worry about Julia. I’ll make sure she at least has Lin with her here at all times. And try not to fret about Naton, if any of the earth wizards see him messing with you, we’ll back you up.” All the others murmured their approval; Lin was by far the most supportive.

“
Thank you. It was great to meet you all, but I gotta go; Darroth will have my head if I’m late!”

Running all the way to the forge,
I found Darroth already at work and in rather high spirits, the beats of his hammer sounding like massive drums on the anvil.

“
Glad to see you’re still alive, boy! I thought you would never wake up.” After a hard slap on the back, he led me over to the anvil he was working on at the last session. “See that, boy? Look what happened to my anvil!”

I was
shocked; there was a large split in the face of the anvil that ran all the way through. If it wasn’t bolted to the ground, it would probably be flopped apart into two pieces.

“
What did you do to cause this?” I asked, eyeing it warily.

“
Me? No, this was your doing; well, that cockeyed sword’s doing, really.”

“
Really? My blade did this, how? It was only iron, not even steel!” He laughed and took a long pull from the wine skin at his hip. He pulled out his pipe and stuck it in the corner of his mouth. I knew from watching him visit with Rosa that he was about to launch into a story.

“
Well, you see, I had to test your work, you know, but none of my hammers would even dent the dang thing. And believe me, I tried! Broke three of my best hammer shafts, too! Anyway, I got a little bit irritated in doing so. I might have imbibed a little too much ale and well…I sort of slammed it onto the anvil and, well, just look! Rosa told me that all you really did was a simple spell of hardening, but when you kept folding the iron over and over again, that somehow folded the enchantment. You made a blade that only your own creations could destroy! Ha!”

At first I was
surprised, but that was soon washed away by a flood of new ideas. If the folding of the metal strengthened the spell, would it work on other enchantments? Could I apply multiple enchantments with this method? And maybe even double the effect...my daydream was interrupted by Darroth tossing a chunk of steel at my head!

“
Now we have work to do! Today, I’m going to work steel and you’re going to assist me, but no magic stuff. I don’t need to lose more tools. You just watch and learn.”

The rest of the afternoon went by fast
and the two of us got along great. Apparently, Darroth liked having a trained assistant, and from the stories he had to tell, he had been a forge master for a very long time. But all too soon it was time for the evening meal and lessons, and tonight was my night to cook. After getting a large pot of stew going, I was setting the table when Rosa breezed through the door.

“
Hello apprentice! I think I smell some of your wonderful cooking!” She walked into the dining area and stretched her arms above her head before taking her seat. “It’s been a long day and my legs and shoulders are killing me.”

“
Well, dinner will be a short while yet, so just relax for a bit.” She was still trying to get the kinks out of her neck.

“
I wish I could. You don’t know any home remedies that help with soreness, do you?”

“
Just one.” I grabbed one of my books and paged through it. After a little searching, I found what I was looking for. I quickly tossed together one of the potions that I had mixed with my mother many times. After a few minutes, I handed Rosa a glass of the green liquid.

She sniffed it
. “What’s this?”

“
Well, as you could probably guess, as a blacksmith, we have our days where we are extremely sore after a big order. So my mother and the healers she worked with invented this for sore muscles and strains. It doesn’t taste so good, but it works and works fast.”

She shrugged and took a sip,
cringing slightly. “What’s in it?”

I
smiled. “If I told you, you wouldn’t drink it, and I recommend you don’t read my mind to find out.”

She held her nose and downed it in one gulp
. “Ok, that’s really gross.”

“
Yeah it is, but you’ll feel like a new elf in a few minutes, and you’ll sleep better, too. But for now, the stew is ready. I made an extra large pot since I could feel your hunger all afternoon.”

“
Thank you, thank you! You have no idea how hungry I am. You should have seen me an hour ago when I sensed you were planning to make your stew; the woman almost killed me, the she-devil!”

“
Who were you with all day?”

“
You’ll meet her tomorrow,” Rosa said airily, with a wink. “And I really think you’ll like her!”

Knowing that she
wouldn’t give me more than that, I went back to stirring my stew. Several quiet minutes passed, too quietly. I could sense a storm cloud of discussion speeding toward me. Rosa leaned back in her chair and absently picked up a piece of carrot root off the counter and popped it into her mouth.

“
So do you want to talk about what happened this afternoon?” Oh-oh.

“
You were listening in on that, huh?”

“
Yes, and I think you did very well. Transferring that fireball was quick thinking. I’m also proud that you stood up to him. But what I really wanted to talk about was what happened before and after your chat with that fire boy.”

“
Before? You mean my talk with Julia?”

“
Yes, your little friend from Foalshead.” She poured us some table wine and passed a glass over to me. “You said some very nice things about me that are already circulating around Xarparion. But what really hit me was how much you truly meant what you said.” Rosa paused and looked away briefly, but I could tell a few tears were streaming down her face. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be almost completely alone for hundreds of years. Finally, she wiped her eyes and cleared her throat, turning back to me with a tentative smile. “Anyway, only you and that she-demon really care for me, and she doesn’t always have the nicest way of showing it, but she’s going to be in for a surprise soon enough,” Rosa chuckled, as if savoring a particularly delicious conspiracy. “And that other thing, your talk with the earth wizards...I think you opened a new door for us. Earlier today, one of their teachers stopped by to explain what happened and to ask if I could help to upgrade their tower and equipment! This could be the start of a more important role for us. If only I would have known how much having an apprentice would change my life! Now let’s eat and get this cleaned up, we still have lessons tonight.”

“
Where in the world are we going?” I said, nearly tripping over a stray cat in the dark as Rosa hustled me along.

“
You’ll see.”

“
Getting me up way before the sun is even thinking about rising and that’s all you’re going to give me?”

“
Hey, I don’t want to be up either, but I was told to have you there at sunrise and not a second later.” Rosa was now almost dragging me, making full use of her longer legs, as we raced to her mystery location.

Toward
what would be called the rearmost section of the round academy, between the inner and outer walls, was an arrangement of small worn buildings not much bigger than sheds. The largest building looked to be a worn-down stable, and in the center was a series of circles on the ground made of colored sand, getting smaller in size as they progressed. The area was dimly lit by lanterns in the four corners. As we approached, I could see in the largest ring five people, four large men and one woman, all in full armor and weapons.

From the looks of things
, the men were set up and dueling as a squad against the woman. The group exchanged formal dueling bows and drew weapons. Suddenly the action started, and I briefly remember thinking this wasn’t at all fair, four against one. But then she moved! She swiveled, ducked low and spun in one fluid motion, the flat of her sword blade slapping the first two fighters’ helmets so quickly that it sounded like one loud hit. Whoever she was, she fought with such an inhuman grace that it looked more like a dance than a duel; it was like she knew where every blade edge would strike and effortlessly avoided them all. One of the men aimed a wicked, two-handed slash at her head while his partner dived low to hack at her legs. She leaped above the low cut like she was playing jump rope, glided sideways to avoid the overhand, and landed for the briefest of instants before bouncing head-over-heels and landing in back of the surprised duo; two sharp raps on the seam between their helmets and hauberks, and they signaled surrender. In the span of a dozen heartbeats, all four opponents were on their butts in the sand, thoroughly defeated. I was instantly captivated. Rosa smirked and reached out with a long finger and pushed my jaw closed.

“Ok
, there’s the she-devil. Now, if you want to live through the day, be polite and try not to stare too much.”

“
I heard that, Rosa.” The woman’s voice was very pleasant and smooth, she wasn’t even winded. Somewhere in the deepest recesses of my mind, I found the fortitude to dispel Rosa’s nickname of she-devil, and I vowed to start out with a clean slate. She was striding over to us. I looked over at her opponents and found they were all getting up slowly, but none of them looked angry or put out, more like schoolboys ruefully having gotten the switch and were now happy the punishment was over. As she approached, I got a good look at her and the armor she wore. She moved with the silent grace of a jungle cat, if a jungle cat was encased in full steel.

As I couldn
’t see anything but her eyes, which were a startling shade of green by the way, I concentrated on her armor. It was very well made - breast plate over chainmail - and looked like it had seen some heavy use. Despite the distractions, the enchanter part of my brain was confident that I could make some needed improvements if she let me.

She must have noticed my s
taring because she changed her stance in an attempt to only show her profile.

The deep green eyes flashed with irritation
. “What is with you men? You’re always drooling over a woman’s body!” That caught me by surprise; in fact, I looked between her and Rosa hopelessly bewildered.

After Rosa recovered from almost laughing herself to death
, she finally helped me in my situation. “I’m sorry, but he wasn’t thinking anything like that. He was looking over your armor and wondering if you would ever let him fix it for you.”

“
Hmmm...anyone but you, Rosa, vouching for that line and he would have been missing parts. And what’s with you, anyway. Last night you looked your age and were about to die from all the cleanup we did, and now you have a spring in your step that you didn’t have even before we started.”

“
Oh yes, you see last night I found another wonderful skill my apprentice has that you simply must try!”

“
Really?” she said dramatically, and it sounded like she was really struggling to choke back a suggestive comment! “Well, for now, I’m more interested in his skills, if any, in the realm of combat.” She turned to face me.

“
All right, newbie! I have all morning to whip you into shape; combat training class shall now begin!”

Combat training
? Master Rosa really did listen to me that night.

“
Ok, where do I start? Swords? Armor?”

I
couldn’t tell with the helm covering her face, but I was pretty sure that she was smiling under it. And I think I even heard a snicker of evil intent!

“
See that shed? Inside you will find a training pack with eighty pounds on it. Go put it on and give me ten laps.”

I did as I was told
. After grabbing the pack, I quickly belted it on - this thing was heavy! I started to run but even after only one lap, I had rivers of sweat flowing off of me. By half way through, my legs were on fire and my chest was about to explode, but even with the pain, I didn’t want to disappoint Rosa or the woman in armor. With new-found determination, I blocked everything else from my mind and pushed on. After the tenth lap, I collapsed in a heap with the backpack still on me, at her feet.

“
Not bad for a first run,” she purred and handed me a ladle of cool water from a wooden bucket. “That pack you’re carrying represents one half the weight of the full plate that Rosa wants me to train you in, and ten laps around my track is only a mile. So before we go anywhere with teaching you to use a sword, you’re going to run five miles with that pack and then move up to the full weight pack. Now get up and do it again!”

I take back what I sa
id earlier, she is a she-devil!

In the next few weeks
, I fell into a sort of pattern. Mornings were spent with my masked teacher, she insisted that I didn’t yet deserve her name or to see her face, then lunch with Julia and her friend, Lin, followed by work at the forge with Darroth. Thanks to hard work, he was now letting me work steel unsupervised for my own projects. In the evening was dinner with Master and more enchanting lessons. Tiring, yes, but I kind of liked it. It felt good to have something to look forward to every day.

The lady in armor intrigued me
. After the first day, I couldn’t bring myself to think of her as the she-devil like Rosa. She never showed her face or any part of her body to anyone; when she wasn’t in full armor, she wore a full length robe with a hood. The one time she caught me trying to catch a glimpse of her face earned me twenty extra laps. After that, I regretfully decided that her privacy was her own and I had no business prying. Although it didn’t stop my imagination from trying out scenarios, like she was really a runaway southern princess, hiding out from her father so that he doesn’t haul her back to his kingdom and force her to marry a rich old baron. Or a witch cast a spell on her that prevents her from ever showing her face except to her one true love. Ok, hokey, I’ll be the first to admit, but I read a lot of adventure stories growing up.

E
ventually, even as hard as she worked me, and without the aid of facial cues to go by, I got to know her quite a bit better. She had a sharp, surprising sense of humor, and she tried her best to keep my mind off things (like the pain) with it. I also learned that she was honorable and had a fair sense of justice…very quick to correct me if I was doing something wrong, but at the same time just as quick to compliment if I was doing it right. She was very smart, and apparently one of Rosa’s only friends, although my master would always clam up whenever I would (ever so innocently) inquire about how they came to meet or where she was from. I soon found my daily goal was just to hear her laugh. Of course, when you are stumbling around a dirt running track with 160 pounds of weight on you, the inevitable trip and calamitous face plant into the dirt will occasionally take place.

At the end of training today
, she motioned me over. “Good work, Alex! You can finally run five miles with the full pack and not be useless when you get there. Tomorrow we start the real training. Oh, before I let you leave for lunch, Rosa left this note for you.”

I opened the letter and all i
t said was to expect an extra hungry mouth for dinner tonight.

“
This is odd, why didn’t she just tell me?”

She
shrugged. “I don’t know, she stopped by to ask for my help when you were still running. I guess she didn’t want to distract you. So what does it say?”

“
It just says that there will be another hungry mouth at dinner.”

“
That’s odd, she never has company over. In fact, I didn’t even know your Enchanters Hall had a kitchen, we always just go to the dining hall.”

“
Must be someone important then. Well, I think I know what she’s getting at so I better get going, thank you for today’s lesson.” I bowed out and took my leave.

I ran to the
dining hall kitchen to ask for some things I would need for dinner that wasn’t stocked at the hall. The cook staff there was very kind and even offered me a fresh voskk roast to make for the meal. With my bags of food and now a fresh roast wrapped in leaves and tucked in a bag, I returned home to get everything ready to go into the oven. I also put the roast into an enchanted clay pot that the master created. It was meant to slowly cook food without spikes in temperature that you can get with fire and without risk of burning down the house if no one is home to watch it.

With
everything done, I grabbed a quick lunch and headed for the smithy for another day of practice. But no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t imagine who would be joining us for dinner. I even asked Darroth, but he said he didn’t even know we had a kitchen either!

Of course the day dragged on, each hour seemingly like three
. The work day finally over, I raced home to get everything started. As I walked in, the smell of the roast hit me and my mouth started to water. I could feel that Rosa had also caught the scent; she must be trying to find out what’s for dinner again. Quickly rinsing off the day’s sweat and throwing on a clean robe, I headed back into the kitchen to ready the side dishes.

After half
an hour, Rosa opened the main door and stuck her head through and took an enormous whiff. “Mmm, that smells good! I knew that note would make you step up the cooking!”

“
So where is our guest? Who is our guest?”

“
Don’t worry; she just went to get changed. She shouldn’t be more than a few minutes.” And as if on cue, there was a knock on the door.

“
That must be her! Be a dear and go let her in, will you?” Rosa called mischievously; I could tell she was up to something.

Nodding
, I opened the door to see the familiar helm of my teacher. But that was the only armor she had on. She was in what I would call normal clothing: leggings, shirt and soft boots, but her shirt had a high neckline and she wore gloves, so still no clue about her appearance.

“
Teacher, welcome! I wasn’t thinking you were our guest tonight; why didn’t you tell me this morning?”

“
Because that devious Rosa over there played a trick on me. She claimed that your previous company couldn’t make it and that I still owed her a favor, so here I am.”

“
Hmmm, well she’s definitely been up to something lately, but please come in, the food is almost ready.” I stepped to the side to let her pass and heard her take a deep breath of the smells coming from the kitchen and utter a little sigh. As we crossed the threshold, we found that Rosa had been busy in the last few minutes. The table was set, the bread was out, and she even had a bottle of wine open, a vintage that I didn’t even know we had. She bustled around the table humming merrily.

“
Rosa, you made all this just for one guest? I can’t imagine what you would do for a party!”

“
Me? Cook? I can’t cook to save my life! Alex made all this. He’s the reason I’ve been eating so well lately, so I thought I would show off his talents.”

Teacher turned to me
. “You did all this?” I nodded. “Ok, so not only are you a smith, enchanter, soldier-in-training, good looking and all around nice guy, but you can cook, too?” She turned to Rosa, “And how did you deserve this? And where can I get five more of him for the barracks?”

Then she did somet
hing that surprised me. She took a deep breath and removed her helm. As the headgear cleared her face, I was stunned by what I saw. She was about my age and had smooth dusky purple skin. Her hair was silver, neatly tucked in a practical bun. Solid white tattoo spots, almost like a galaxy of small stars, started under her eyes then swooped to the sides of her cheeks and narrowed as they ran down her neck. She had soft-looking lips that seemed naturally darker than the rest of her skin, a smooth jaw line, high cheek bones, long delicate elf ears and, of course, the emerald green eyes I had been so fixated on for so long. I had seen many dark elves before, but none like her, she was just too beautiful.